Maxime de la Rocheterie on Marie-Antoinette

"She was not a guilty woman, neither was she a saint; she was an upright, charming woman, a little frivolous, somewhat impulsive, but always pure; she was a queen, at times ardent in her fancies for her favourites and thoughtless in her policy, but proud and full of energy; a thorough woman in her winsome ways and tenderness of heart, until she became a martyr."

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

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Monday, May 30, 2011

"O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal...." Wisdom 4:1

On Wednesday, May 30, 1431, the Vigil of Corpus Christi, Jehanne Darc, or Jehanne la Pucelle, "the Maid," as she called herself, was led into the public square of Rouen by enemy soldiers to where the stake awaited her. It was noon. Nineteen years old, her head shaven, surrounded by placards branding her a witch, idolatress, and abjured heretic, she invoked the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, and St Michael the Archangel. She had been calumniated and condemned by those whose holy office it was to guide and protect her soul; she had been exposed to lewdness and impurity by those whose sacred duty it was to shelter her innocence and virginity. She was abandoned by the king whose crown her victories had won. She was in great interior darkness; the voices of her saints were silent.

Although she conversed with angels and saints, Joan the Maid was known to be practical and blunt. Very feminine, she missed her embroidery and her mother, yet she emerges on the pages of late medieval history like someone from the Acts of the Apostles. Surrounded by miracles, she was herself a Miracle; she led an army to victory at the age of 17, an illiterate peasant girl, who knew nothing of war or politics. She saved France as a nation, for it had all but ceased to exist when she came on the scene.

Such was her Faith that she confounded her judges, while exhausted, frightened and pushed to the breaking point of her mental and physical strength. Denied the Sacraments by her persecutors, she gazed upon the upheld crucifix, calling out, "Jesus! Jesus!" as the flames consumed her. When Joan's ashes were scattered in the river, her heart was found, untouched by the flames, and still bleeding.

"If I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me, O Lord Jesus." Communion Antiphon for the Feast of St Joan

But Jehanne is not content to win battles. She knows that military success is meaningless if it is not consolidated by the symbolic and religious power of the French monarchy. She convinces the Dauphin to have himself crowned King. Here she is, attending the coronation ceremony of Charles VII at Reims, still holding the banner she carried into battle. This moment is her work, and marks the peak of her glory in this world.

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St Joan's story reminds us that restoration of a good name from disgrace and ruin brought about by calumny and detraction is hard work -- and often impossible, which is why we should always take care to be on guard against participating in any such evil. Fr Lawrence Lovasick his book, _The Hidden Power of Kindness_ (p. 147) speaks about this and the hard work that Joan's mother, Isabel d'Arc went to, to bring a righteous ending to Joan's story (five centuries it took to come to its final completion).

"Isabel, d"Arc ... pleaded before popes and kings to vindicate her daughter."

Isabel toiled for 20 years to bring about about the rehabilitation trial of Joan, a trial that lasted 6 months, and ended in complete vindication of Joan.

Father Lovasick goes on to say, "Sins of detraction and calumny may have brought about the unjust execution of Joan [but] her mother took it upon herself to repair the harm done to Joan's good name. By the trial of vindication in 1456, and the canonization of St Joan in 1920, the Church herself has repaired the harm that had been done to Joan of Arc."

Dear St Joan of Arc, and good Isabel d'Arc, pray for all those who suffer character assassination, slander, detraction and calumny.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, soften the cold hearts who practice the evil of gossip, slander, calumny and detraction; teach them love and kindness instead. Have mercy on us and hear our prayers, dear Lord. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, be praised for ever and ever. Amen.

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